Data Storage Devices (DSDs) are often used to record data onto or to reproduce data from a storage media such as a rotating magnetic disk. In DSDs with a rotating magnetic disk, a magnetic head is typically actuated over the disk to magnetically write and read data on a surface of the disk. During normal operation, the head floats over the disk surface at an appropriate distance or “fly height” above the disk surface due to airflow between the head and the disk surface. The fly height or distance between the head and the disk surface is often only a few nanometers. As a result of this relatively small distance and the sensitivity of the head, relatively small surface irregularities on the disk can cause errors when reading or writing data.
Such disk surface irregularities may, for example, be caused as part of an assembly process of the DSD when clamping the disk to a spindle which may cause warping of the disk surface or the introduction of contaminants on the disk surface.